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Upton day-to-day with hip injury

Upton day-to-day with hip injury

PHILADELPHIA -- D-backs outfielder Justin Upton left Tuesday's game in the fifth inning for precautionary reasons with right hip tightness. He did not require an MRI and is considered day-to-day.

Upton said he felt a tweak in his hip when diving back to second base on a pickoff throw in the first inning. He could've continued playing but pulled himself out when it started tightening up.

"I carried on throughout the game a little bit, but it got to the point where it was pretty tight," Upton said. "[It was] more precautionary to go ahead and get out of the game and get some treatment on it."

Upton went 1-for-3 with two strikeouts and a run scored, but he did not come out to play right field in the bottom of the fifth. He extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a single in the first inning.

He said he had trouble running after a double down the right-field line by Phillies second baseman Placido Polanco in the fourth.

"I was kind of guarding it a little bit because I felt it," Upton said. "And at that point, I was hurting the team more than I was helping it, so we made the decision to go ahead and put [Gerardo] Parra out there."

The 22-year-old outfielder is batting .431 with two home runs and eight RBIs in the midst of his current hitting streak.

"He's had a history of having side problems, like hip flexor problems, so we weren't going to take any chances so we got him out of there," D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said.

Upton said he's never had any major issues with his hip, but it has tightened up on him at different points in the past. He said he will get to the ballpark early on Wednesday and see if he can play.

"I didn't try and play through it," Upton said. "Hopefully it's only a couple days thing."

Upton's brother, B.J., also left early with an injury in Tampa Bay's contest with Detroit on Tuesday after suffering a left ankle sprain in the first inning.